Over the years, despite rapid advances in computer technology involving improved data accumulation, transfer and processing techniques, the health-related fields have continued to utilize dated and expensive techniques. For example, at present healthcare providers are generally only able to offer isolated and specialized care, targeting an individual's specific maladies, rather than, offering a comprehensive approach to the individual's health and general well being. The data required to provide enhanced care is not easily accessible to healthcare providers, without the expenditure of extraordinary efforts and funds.
By way of a nutrition-related example, a vast amount of data exists on the relationship between personal health and edible consumption. The United States National Institute of Health routinely evaluates such data and lists specific recommended daily allowances (RDA's) of various edibles. For example, various important nutritional substances, such as minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, as well as various pharmaceuticals, such as aspirin, diuretics, anti-inflammatory drugs are specified in various quantities to address the needs and tolerances of people in general. However, for the most part, such data is generic, treating human beings in general and not particular human beings. With all their specific differences individualized treatment for persons has not been effectively utilized on a wide scale basis. Thus, a need continues to exist for obtaining and utilizing meaningful data, particularly on an individual basis.
At the outset, some definitions will be helpful in disclosing exemplary applications of the present invention. The term "edible" encompasses substances taken orally, including various nutritives and food substances, such as vitamins, minerals and so on, as well as pharmaceutical substances, such as various drugs used for the treatment of chronic, as well as acute clinical conditions. A specification of edibles to approximate the actual needs of an individual will be referred to herein as a "personalized prescription." The term "personalized" implies that the quantities of ingredients serve an individual's needs, independent of generalized or standardized doses as typically contained in off-the-shelf medications or food preparations. The term "health profile" specifies the character, health, needs, habits, and so on of an individual subject. Basically, profiles are established for subjects as a basis for generating "personalized prescriptions".
Generally, the present invention involves a system, encompassing a structure and a process, for accumulating, storing, analyzing and processing health-related data for individuals (profiles) along with edible data, as basis for specifying personalized prescriptions. The system utilizes a form of apparatus effective for the collection of health-related information and data, and for the processing of such information and data monitoring the application of processing results.
One of the most problematic areas in nutritional analysis is the collection of comprehensive dietary intake information for effective use by a dietician, analyst, or the like, i.e., for developing an accurate record of what a subject typically consumes. Traditionally, a subject is requested to keep a record of all foods eaten during a three day period. Usually, motivation tends to wane after three days. The record may be written in a tabular form, listing specific foods, quantities and so on. However, regardless of the format, the activity tends to be burdensome, tedious, and somewhat ineffective.
To consider an example, assume a subject has consumed a simple breakfast consisting of one slice of bread with margarine, a glass of milk and an apple. To record the meal in such terms is easy, but nutritional analysis of the meal is next to impossible. For example, a nutritional program may include as many as 160 listings under bread. Thus, "bread" by itself is of little help to the dietician. Prior techniques have suggested some selectivity, such as "wheat bread." However, even crude selectivity is time consuming and subjects have little tolerance for it. Similar problems exist with respect to apples, margarine and many other consumables. Thus, usually, the data is somewhat questionable.
In addition to the basic problem of data acquisition and recording, initial processing also poses a problem. In that regard, it is practically impossible for an individual to communicate detailed personal circumstances to a listening health professional and obtain optimum personal advice. Even if such arrangements were possible, the procedure would be incredibly expensive. Typically, professional health practitioners are overwhelmed. They face the need of seeing a set number of patients every hour, while keeping up with new findings in their field. Consequently, the problem of questionable data is compounded by ineffective communication and processing.
As a further complication of health administration, pharmacies are constrained to drug products with standard doses and compelled to concentrate on order forms and insurance company procedures. To a large extent, they are unable to effectively integrate either the patient/customer or the products with a knowledge base. Rather, they are deterred in the role of a medically-intelligent dispatching/delivery system.
Drug prescriptions are rarely based on any attempt to delve into individual human differences with knowledge of a product, together with the individual's genetic, psychic and cultural background, family history and nutrient consumption. Patient records are often inadequate or ignored in the prescription of drugs. Personal health issues are pushed aside on the basis of statistical processing, standard doses, and shallow relationships. Accordingly, a substantial need exists for an improved system (method and apparatus) for implementing a person's consumption of edibles to approximate the person's actual health needs.
In a related context, in typical situations, a doctor provides a prescription to an individual, who in turn presents it to a pharmacy to be filled. The prescription administered by the doctor seldom takes into account the effect of the drugs prescribed or any extreme characteristics that the individual may have, generally because the individual's accumulated history is not necessarily available to either the doctor or the pharmacy. Moreover, typically there is no direct communication between the doctor and the pharmacy, whereby prescriptions can be fine tuned or the pharmacy may provide the doctor with the results of drug interaction analysis.
In general, the system of the present invention integrates the technological capabilities of current communication and data processing techniques with accumulation and storage of medical and health-related knowledge relating to individuals. Using various apparatus, including telephonic terminals, such knowledge may be accumulated over time, from multiple and varied sources, such as doctors, hospitals, medical laboratories, pharmacies, dieticians, as well as individual patients themselves.
Heath-related data for individuals to be serviced by the system may be continually and automatically updated by all subscribing entities. In addition, data on unknown individuals may also be accumulated for future use as data on individuals not actually in the program. The system provides access to approved entities, enabling direct communication between remote parties, as well as providing an accurate and comprehensive database of knowledge to ensure personalized care.
In one application, the system may define and deliver edibles approximating an individual's actual needs. For example, the system of the present invention may provide a subject with prescription drugs designed to approximate an individual's needs exactly, with a diet similarly designed for the same person, or with a combination of the two.
A personal prescription in accordance herewith may improve the health and welfare of healthy individuals, as well as persons suffering from various diseases or disorders. The invention is based on the recognition that rather than prescribing "average" or "standard" products, e.g., products designed for the average individual, more precise personal needs can be defined. Such needs should take into consideration demographic characteristics, eating habits, personal health, health history, family history, work, physical activity and so on.
Somewhat more specifically, the system of the present invention involves prescribing edibles to individuals based on:
(a) obtaining a first set of data including physical and health information and other personal parameters, which determine the individual's requirements for edibles; such parameters might include sex, age, weight, type of work performed, working hours, sport activities, smoking habits, daily drug intake, and so on; PA1 (b) determining an individual's requirements for edibles including pharmaceuticals, minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, fats, proteins, carbohydrates and so on; PA1 (c) obtaining a second set of data on the individual's average daily food and drug intake over a meaningful interval; PA1 (d) comparing and correlating the data to determine an individual's deficiencies of edibles; and PA1 (e) prescribing for the individual with one or more drugs, combinations of drugs, food products or other combinations with the objective of supplying needs and compensating deficiencies.
To implement the system of the present invention, various technologies are combined. Specifically, communication facilities (e.g. telephone) are utilized in cooperation with data input devices, computers and processors to store, analyze, communicate and process data, such as to determine an individual's recommended intake quantities (RIQ), formulate. and package prescriptions and monitor, as well as to modify and refine the person's intake. Techniques are incorporated for effectively collecting, processing and utilizing data to accomplish personalized prescriptions. Additionally, the system enables a drug-preparation pharmacy for the implementation of personalized prescriptions in the form of edibles or the like for substantially meeting the specific requirements of individuals. The pharmacy may combine numerous elements or select edibles for packaging in a few capsules for a specific individual. In addition, the personalized prescription pharmacy also may provide the individual with custom food preparations and prescriptions as in a hospital or treatment environment.
Alternatively, the pharmacy may assemble individual regimens which dispense pills of specific dosages and at specific frequency which allow a person's individual needs to be met over a time averaging period like one week or in some cases one month depending on the specific substance and the bodies natural capacity for storing and releasing the substance.
Considering the structural aspects of the system of the present invention in somewhat greater detail, a portable terminal as in the form of a personal computer or automated notebook may be provided to a subject for recording preliminary information, as well as food intake. Additionally, an attached portable bar-code reader may be provided for easy recording of data. Where food manufacturers or restaurants have bar-codes, which are on the package or menu, and specify food data like bistro, macro and micro nutrients per unit of food consumed, data entry is facilitated. In a telephonic communication, the operation may be refined as with audio cues or prompts. In response to entering the consumption of a slice of bread, the subject could be prompted so as to attain greater specificity, for example, "white or dark?"; "whole wheat or not?" and so on.
Typically, a central system (data bank and processor) will interface the subject terminals and also includes capability for communicating with other remote terminals at doctors' offices, hospitals, wellness centers or the like, pharmacy terminals, billing terminals and formulation terminals. Periodically, information entered in a terminal by an individual, doctor or laboratory technician is collected or downloaded to the central station system, online as by utilizing telephone communication, or in some cases, off-line as by facsimile or the like if the need arises.
At the central station, processing and storage facilities are provided to generate and refine the needs of the subject and to provide a personalized prescription or guidance data to the individual, as well as to provide health-related data to any of the accessing entities. The central station incorporates communication interface facilities, a substantial data base of health-related data, such as nutritional information and logic for analyzing and correlating input data, ultimately to define a subject's profile and personalized prescription, further to detect critical conditions or enable healthcare providers to provide better care. Operators or analysts utilizing terminals of the central station may enter person-to-person communications if a need is sensed by a subject or sensed by the system logic.
The individual file can be processed by preventative health information which might from time to time become available and might be used for early detection of disease where early action may be helpful. Regimens are dispensed in dosages at certain levels and modulated by frequency of dosages when total intake requirements are met or exceeded. The database can be utilized for scanning against a universe of available products which are available in the database and may be particularly useful for optimizing a person's dietary and pharmaceutical needs. The universe of product files can be used to scan against subject files to find the individuals who could most effectively use their products.